Two women in their 80s died, while four other people aged between 88 and 100 were taken to hospital Saturday after they all choked on mochi, police and fire department officials said Sunday. (Japan Today)

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has announced plans to shorten the interval between the second and third coronavirus vaccinations for medical professionals and certain elderly people to six months from the current eight. (NHK)

Police in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, have arrested a 35-year-old unemployed woman on suspicion of killing a 76-year-old man at the nursing home where she used to work in 2020. (Japan Today)

A man attacked an elderly woman with a knife in front of Fukushima Station in Fukushima Prefecture on Monday, police and local media said, the latest in a string of recent assaults on and around the country's train network. (Japan Today)

The global pandemic has prompted a wholesale rethinking of life choices around the world. But in places such as Japan, where rigid work cultures offer few alternative paths, the pandemic has brought a rare opportunity for residents to reimagine how their futures could — not should — look. (The Washington Post)

A 34-year-old former nurse at a hospital was sentenced to life in prison in Yokohama on Tuesday for killing three terminally ill patients by injecting a disinfectant into their intravenous drip bag. (Japan Today)

The disproportionate weight of rural voters in Japan gives sparsely populated parts of the country more representation — and more government largess — than urban areas, perpetuating what critics call an unfair system. (nytimes.com)

A Japanese government survey shows the number of people aged 65 or older, and their ratio to the overall population, are both at record highs. (NHK)

Japan has given first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to 63.6% of its population, surpassing the U.S. in the proportion of those who have had at least one shot of the vaccine despite starting months behind. (Japan Times)

A 118-year-old Japanese woman was celebrated ahead of Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. She is recognized as the world's oldest living person by Guinness World Records. (NHK)

Japan's government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated. (AP)

Japanese government data show that around 76 million people, or 60 percent of the country's population, have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Tuesday. (NHK)

A Tokyo court has sentenced a 90-year-old man to five years in prison without suspension for a 2019 car accident that killed a young mother and her child. The incident prompted many elderly drivers to surrender their licenses. (NHK)

A total of 64 patients at a hospital in Okinawa Prefecture have died in a coronavirus cluster infection. (NHK)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to scale down its contact-tracing program for identifying people who may have had close contact with those infected with the new coronavirus. (Japan Times)

Facing possible bankruptcy, the city of Kyoto has drafted a financial restructuring plan that would trim its bureaucracy, reduce the number of elderly residents eligible for bus and subway discounts and cut spending on day care centers. (Japan Times)

Japanese authorities have lifted evacuation orders for thousands of households after a tropical storm hit the northeast of the country. (NHK)

Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics says he expects restrictions on activity in Japan to begin easing by the end of this quarter as the elderly should be fully vaccinated by then. (CNBC International TV)

Japan's health ministry has approved an antibody cocktail as a COVID-19 treatment. It's the first authorization in the country of a medicine that can be used on patients with mild symptoms. (NHK)

The Japanese government says that nearly 80 percent of the elderly in the country have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine so far, and more than half of them have been fully vaccinated with two shots. (NHK)

The Japanese government says three in four senior citizens in the country have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine. (NHK)

Japan's capital enters a fourth coronavirus state of emergency on Monday. The measure will last throughout the Olympics and end on August 22. (NHK)

KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a male employee at a senior home in Hiratsuka City over the alleged attempted rape of a female resident, reports TV Asahi. (tokyoreporter.com)

A statistical analysis of outside directors at Japanese listed companies confirms what the eye sees -- the same old faces keep reappearing in multiple and overlapping boards like Wally in the Where's Wally series. (Nikkei)

Police in Fukuoka City are looking for a man in his 50s after the bodies of his 88-year-old father and his 87-year-old mother were found in a large refrigerator at their home on Monday. (Japan Today)